End-of-Life Care Needs an Overhaul

By the end of the first term of the next person elected President in 2016, there will be about 13 million more people over age 65 in the United States than when President Obama was last elected in 2012. In their lives,70 percent of people over 65 will require long-term care—the range of services, both medical and social, that are designed to meet the personal care needs of the elderly or disabled but are not covered by traditional health insurance or Medicare (though it is covered by Medicaid for the poor or disabled).

We are two experienced physicians who were responsible for our loved ones in long-term care facilities. Both of our experiences left us deeply concerned about the ability of ordinary, non-medical people to receive quality, dignified care at the ends of their lives in these facilities.